Baliapal: Salt farmers of Bolang under this block in Balasore district are on the brink of losing their livelihood owing to excessive tax burden and lack of government support, a report said.
Thousands of people, who used to depend on this traditional occupation for generations, are now struggling for livelihood while over 450 families have already switched over paddy farming.
Many farmers held the government responsible for this crisis. According to reports, about 450 families in five panchayats – Bolang, Sahada, Baniadiha, Panchupalli and Jambirai – have been farming salt for over 45 years.
Usually salt farming is carried out from March to June while a cooperative society named Salt Manufacturing Industries procures salt from farmers. “Salt farming was a roaring business in the five panchayats between 1970 and 1997 when they had to pay only `5 as tax per acre of farming, but now the tax has been hiked twenty times, which has become a burden on us,” some farmers said.
Half of the tax is paid towards land revenue and the other half as royalty, they added.
During that period, the cooperative society was running successfully, but it has been incurring loss since 1997. Then the government imposed restrictions on traditional salt farming, as a result of which the demand for Bolang salt declined.
The state government and UNICEF issued an order to the society to produce iodized salt and provided two machines to it for the purpose. The machines, however, became defunct a few days later. They were neither repaired nor replaced. Since then, the society stopped procuring salt from farmers.
Bhagban Mandal, a salt farmer, was of view that many farmers have switched over to paddy farming due to lack of government support to salt farming.
Jyotsnarani Behera, another farmer, blamed the government for the state of affairs.
Earlier, salt farming was being done in over 337 acres along the coast, but it has now shrunk to only one and a half acres.
Amulya Mohanty, secretary of the cooperative society, said the salt produced here is better in quality than that produced at Huma, Suranda and Sumandi of Ganjam district.
“Bolang salt can be stored for several days and the government should take steps to add iodine to it,” Mohanty suggested.
Shoka Mandal, another farmer, said, “The government should
set up a salt processing unit
here so as to clean, dry and package it. Farmers will get good
benefits.”
Tehsildar Pratap Chandra Beura, however, said land revenue and royalty have been kept low. “The problem can only be sorted out if the government comes out with a mega salt manufacturing project,” he added.
Some observed that people’s representatives should initiate efforts in this direction. PNN